Tag: Gary Cahill

Chelsea crashed out of the Champions League on a stormy night at Stamford Bridge as Paris St-Germain reached the last eight on away goals after extra time.

PSG came from behind twice to take revenge for last season’s quarter-final exit at the hands of Chelsea – showing great character to play for the last hour of normal time and the added 30 minutes without talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic after he had been sent off for a foul on Oscar.

In an ugly eyesore of a match punctuated by fouls and contentious incidents, Gary Cahill’s late goal looked to be sending Chelsea through until their former defender David Luiz thumped home a header to send this last-16 tie into extra time.

Once more Chelsea went ahead through Eden Hazard’s penalty following Thiago Silva’s handball but PSG’s Brazilian defender made amends perfectly with another superb header six minutes from time to give coach Laurent Blanc’s side the progression they deserved.

While PSG complained about Ibrahimovic’s red card – and the reaction that saw nine Chelsea players crowd referee Bjorn Kuipers – Chelsea suffered injustices of their own as Diego Costa was denied a clear first-half penalty when he was fouled by Edinson Cavani.

As a series of running battles broke out, Costa was fortunate to stay on for a shove on Marquinhos, having been booked earlier for a wild lunge on Silva – the game degenerating into a niggly, fractious affair.

For Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho, who sets such store by the Champions League having won it with Porto and Inter Milan, this will be a devastating blow but he can hardly make a case that his side were unlucky after such a flat performance, even with a numerical advantage.

And now the Premier League, so often boasting its status as the greatest in the world, faces the prospect of a Champions League wipeout at the last-16 stage with both Manchester City and Arsenal also fighting against the odds after home defeats by Barcelona and Monaco.

Ibrahimovic had been on the periphery of a game that had plenty of slick passing without cutting edge – but he was the central figure as he received his red card after 31 minutes.

The giant Swede arrived late in a 50-50 challenge with Oscar, leaving the Brazilian writhing on the ground in agony.

Referee Kuipers produced the red card while surrounded by almost the entire Chelsea team, excluding the stricken Oscar and keeper Thibaut Courtois, who had arrived at the scene en masse.

If PSG were harbouring a sense of injustice, they were fortunate to escape twice in quick succession, first when Luiz appeared to catch Costa with an elbow off the ball and then when the striker was clearly tripped by Cavani in the area, only for penalty appeals to be ignored.

Cavani now carried the responsibility for getting the goal PSG required but he was guilty of a dreadful miss as the hour approached, doing everything right to round Courtois only to strike the near post from an angle with the empty goal beckoning.

It could have proved an expensive miss and PSG’s frustration only increased when they were convinced Costa should have received a similar sanction to Ibrahimovic when he flattened Silva and was fortunate to receive just a yellow card.

Their misery seemed complete when Cahill put Chelsea ahead nine minutes from the end of normal time with a goal that mirrored the game. It was a scrappy affair as PSG failed to clear a corner after keeper Salvatore Sirigu saved from Ramires, and Costa’s sliced attempt on goal fell kindly for Cahill to lash home.

Chelsea’s fans thought this would be enough but reckoned without the spirit of PSG and they took this frenetic tie into extra time as Luiz beat Branislav Ivanovic to a corner to send a thumping header high past Courtois.

PSG’s good work looked to have been undone by that handball by Silva as he contested an aerial challenge with Chelsea substitute Kurt Zouma, resulting in a penalty that was calmly converted by Hazard.

Silva was the man who made amends with a towering header from a corner seconds after he had been denied by a magnificent Courtois stop from a similar effort.

Chelsea wilted visibly and PSG, who are second in Ligue 1, saw out the game without further alarm to spark wild scenes of celebration among their thousands of supporters inside Stamford Bridge.

Bantams strike back to beat Chelsea

Bradford brilliantly responded from two goals down to win 4-2 at Chelsea and dump the Barclays Premier League leaders out of the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge.

League One City, who were 2-0 down after 38 minutes, claimed the biggest scalp of their recent giant-killing exploits to advance to the fifth round and end Chelsea’s hopes of challenging for an unprecedented quadruple.

Chelsea reject Filipe Morais levelled the fourth-round tie with 15 minutes to go before Jon Stead, the scorer of City’s first, teed up Andy Halliday for the winner eight minutes from time.

And substitute Mark Yeates tucked in a stoppage-time fourth to inflict the Blues’ first home loss this season and spark jubilant celebrations from Phil Parkinson’s visitors.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho said it would be a “disgrace” if his side exited the competition to the League One Bantams, who beat Arsenal and Aston Villa en route to the 2013 League Cup final, where they were beaten by Swansea.

But Mourinho’s men were distinctly second best and not even the introduction of Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard and Willian off the substitutes’ bench could rescue the tie.

It was the first time Chelsea have lost to lower-league opposition at home since 1995 against Millwall.

Chelsea made nine changes with Tuesday’s Capital One Cup semi-final second leg against Liverpool in mind, but still fielded a team full of talent worth an estimated £98million. The fees for Bradford’s starting XI totalled £7,500.

The Blues must now regroup for their midweek clash with the Reds and next Saturday’s Premier League showdown with Manchester City.

Chelsea strengthened their grip on the Premier League title race as they came from behind to win at Liverpool.

Emre Can’s deflected shot gave Liverpool an early lead but Gary Cahill swiftly levelled for Chelsea with the help of goalline technology, confirming that Reds keeper Simon Mignolet had carried his effort over the line.

Diego Costa – a one-time target for Liverpool who had a running battle with Martin Skrtel throughout – secured the three points for Jose Mourinho’s side midway through the second half to maintain their unbeaten league record.

Chelsea were superior overall, although Liverpool will complain bitterly they should have had a late penalty when Cahill appeared to handle Steven Gerrard’s shot.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers made seven changes to the weakened sidedefeated by Real Madrid in the Champions League this week – but his ploy of making the Chelsea game a priority failed as they were condemned to defeat.

For Liverpool, it was also a sobering afternoon and an illustration of how these two teams have gone in opposite directions since they last met here in April.